Bronté school sell-off fears over high cost of repairs to building

Patrick Bronté was the father of the world-famous sisters Charlotte, Emily and Anne and he was the greatly respected priest at Haworth Parish Church from 1820 until 1861.

The Old School Room, which is next to Haworth Parish Church and the world-famous Parsonage home of the Bronte family, in Haworth was built as a national-style school by Bronte in 1832 then extended in 1850 and 1871.

Now the single-storey building is showing its age.

It is in need of a major restoration and the owner of the building, Haworth Parish Church, does not have the cash or expertise to ensure that the Old School Room is restored to its former state.

The building housed a school where the authors Charlotte, Emily and Anne, together with their alcoholic brother Branwell, worked as teachers to give the poor children of the village an education.

It is estimated that just short of £1m will be needed not only to repair the roof that has dry rot issues but also to complete the restoration.

Now a church committee charged with maintaining the building, the Bronté Spirit, has concluded that giving the building a new lease of life is seemingly impossible for them.

Mrs Averil Kenyon, the chairman of the Bronté Spirit, said: “We had high hopes of gaining funding several years ago but we were unable to take the project past the development stage for many different reasons.

“Basically Haworth Parish Church has its hands full seeking funding to undertake its own restoration project and, while they are making progress, there is simply not enough cash or people available to help us advance the Old School Room project.

“Now the roof of the Old School Room needs at least £12,000 spending on it to keep the building even reasonably water tight through next winter.”